Tim O Brien On The Rainy River Analysis

As a child, my parents would tell me personal stories about the Vietnam War. My dad would tell me how he and his family traveled by boat to America to escape the brutal war, but were robbed of everything — their money, their clothes & their pictures. My mom, on the other hand, would talk about how my late great-uncle, her uncle, and my late grandpa served for South Vietnam and how they all suffered physical and emotional ailments. Just like my family, Tim O’Brien describes the soldiers’ suffering in The Things They Carried. The Protagonist, Tim O’Brien, remembers the past and continuously works the details of these memories of his service in Vietnam into meaning. Through a series of linked semi-autobiographical stories, O’Brien illuminates

the characters of the men with whom he served and draws meaning about the war from meditations on his relationships.

Through strategic employment of tone, Tim O’Brien communicates to his audience the difficult burdens the men bore physically and emotionally.

O’Brien evokes emotional tone to emphasize the harsh realities of war. Throughout “On the Rainy River,” the author conveys reasons why he did not want to participate in the war due to the fact that it was not something he agreed with, nor did it match his moral principles. Commencing the chapter, he remembers how he involves himself in the war: “Not to anyone. Not to my parents, not to my brother or sister, not even my wife” (O’Brien, “On the Rainy River”). O’Brien implements an impassioned tone in which he allows people to understand his point of views on the war. The repetition of the phrase “not to,” emphasizes how important and exclusive the story is to him, and it shows how ashamed he is to have done such a thing. O’Brien applies “not to” to convey why he does not want anyone to experience the horrors of war. He witnesses people die right in front of his eyes and the stories he hears from the men in his family just adds fuel as to why he does not think think the war is legitimate. He showcases the courage he has to ultimately sign up for the war: “I feared the war, yes, but I also feared exile. I was afraid of walking away

from my own life, my friends, and my family, my whole history, everything that mattered to me. I feared losing the respect of my parents. I feared the law. I feared ridicule and censure” (O’Brien, “On the Rainy River). The repetitive use of “I feared” shows how much he did not want to serve in the war. Because the men in his family were fellow soldiers, it adds additional pressure on him to serve in the war — a war he does not necessarily agree with nor does he want to compromise his own life for. However, because of his culture, his family, and where he lives, he is more afraid of not serving in the war than actually serving. Throughout the history of society, war is continuously deemed as something men must partake in to exhibit their masculinity. Unfortunately, in his eyes: “I survived, but it’s not a happy ending. I was a coward. I went to the war” (O’Brien, “On the Rainy River”). He believes that he “was a coward” for going to war because submitting to others’ demands in his eyes makes him weak. O’Brien associates submitting to war with weakness because he let his shame and fear win over his principles. For the author, the strong thing to do would have been to run away from the war and bear the censure. Through the employment of a touching tone, O’Brien depicts the cruel hardships of war — the truth — that men are forced to live with and unfortunately remember, causing them to relive the events in their head.
O’Brien’s clinical tone engages those who did not witness the war themselves to allow them to feel as if they were there.

Throughout “How to Tell a True War Story,” the author clarifies that in order for someone to really feel as if they are actually there in the war, specific stories will be exaggerated to create the vivid, realistic imagery. “War is nasty; war is fun. War is thrilling; war is drudgery. War makes you a man; war makes you dead” (O’Brien, “How to Tell a True War Story). O’Brien employs descriptive tone so that people will be able to understand what the soldiers are going through. He encourages people to see the true colors of war the soldiers, primarily teenagers and young men in their early twenties, had to endure. They soon find themselves in the midst of an intense war feeling nothing but uncertainty and fear. They hate it, but they love the fear and adrenaline that run through their skin and bones, and it serves as a crucial part of their young lives that changes the way they see their own world. Even though this unemotional tone, O’Brien is still able to bring forth the true raw emotion of the soldiers because the words implemented to describe the war are mind boggling. He arises the realization that anything can happen at any minute and anything can change at any moment. In order to implement that realization, sometimes stories seem over exaggerated: “In many cases a true war story cannot be believed. … Often the crazy stuff is true and the normal

stuff isn’t, because the normal stuff is necessary to make you believe the truly incredible craziness” (O’Brien, “How to Tell a True War Story). Because of the mind boggling descriptions of war, the soldiers know that they will not believed when they talk about the war. They consciously make up “normal stuff” so that they have a chance of communicating with civilians. By making up “normal stuff,” the soldiers are able to relate certain aspects of the story to the civilians who do not fully understand the hardships the soldiers go through. Most people do not know what a true story is because: “in the end, of course, a true war story is never about war … It’s about love and memory. It’s about sorrow. It’s about sisters who never write back and people who never listen” (O’Brien, “How to Tell a True War Story). Through the phrase “it’s about sisters who never write back and people who never listen,” O’Brien again employs the idea that civilians will never understand. He also implements the idea that war, at its heart, is about the people who are caught up in war, with their love and their memories and their sadness. Through reserved tone, O’Brien is able to present the war in a way that is not typical or expected.
War is a time for men to serve their country with honor and pride. However, the acts that these soldiers see are not ideal and many civilians find it hard to relate. But through the tactical implementation of emotional and emotionless tone, Tim O’Brien is able to convey the physical and emotional hardships that these men bare and provide the opportunity for people who did not witness the war, to understand the perspective of soldiers.